Flyers: Nice comeback can't overcome awful start

Wayne Simmonds sends a backhand shot past a sprawling Johan Hedberg for the first of a four-goal third-period barrage that wasn't enough as the Flyers fell to the Devils, 6-4, Saturday. (Associated Press)

PHILADELPHIA -- The game had devolved quickly into just another burr in the saddle of time that marks the Flyers-Devils rivalry.

A pair of referees named Eric Furlatt and Ghislain Hebert had proven themselves worthy of their anonymous status, primarily because both of them forgot to blow a whistle when Claude Giroux was tripped at the point during a Flyers power play.

That non-call tripping act, ably constructed by Dainius Zubrus, came after the Devils had scored on a 5-on-3 power play, and enabled Ilya Kovalchuk to score off a shorthanded break, putting the Devils up by two goals in the final minute of the first period.

The Flyers would respond by going into a hissy fit.

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That fit only helped the Devils score a third goal before the period ended, and the Flyers would respond by going into a depressive funk.

That funk moved the Devils to score again, and again and again, and the Flyers were in a six-goal hole after two periods. So naturally it would end 6-4, igniting plenty of wistful, exciting tongue wagging in the postgame chatter room about what could have been.

"That," Jaromir Jagr said with a glint in his eye about how close to a real comeback they had come, "would have been great. Would be Tebow Time."

Yes, we all learned more than 30 years ago to believe in miracles when it comes to hockey, even when some guy named Ghislain is blowing his whistle all the way to a six-goal deficit.

Or, at least he was for a while.

"I'm not going to get into that," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said when, um, innocently prompted on the subject of officiating. And then he got into it.

"I disagreed with a lot the first 20-25 minutes of the game," Laviolette said, "and then nothing gets called at the end when we're moving on the attack offensively, throwing 45 pucks (actually, 43 attempted shots) at the net. Where were the whistles? But I don't want to get into it. We need to get better."

The Flyers did just that Saturday. It just took them more than two periods to do so. Whether they give failing grades to the refs or not, they should acknowledge how ill-prepared they looked over the first two periods, allowing the Devils to pepper starting goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (six goals allowed on 23 shots) before he was mercifully removed after Kurtis Foster's second power play goal of the game at 8:22 of the second period made it 6-zip New Jersey.

The Devils were in full laughter mode by then. Kovalchuk, not usually the hardest working guy on the ice, had scored a goal, helped set up two others and won a fight over Brayden Schenn.

Zubrus, the former Flyer who so skillfully tripped Giroux right in front of both refs and got away with it, scored the third Devils goal 56 seconds later -- at 19:59 of the first.

It would only get worse, with the Devils scoring twice in the first 1:37 of the second period and cruising toward the idea that the day was over.

Of course, everyone likely felt that way.

"Those first two periods, I was embarrassed to be a Philadelphia Flyer," Scott Hartnell said. "We came out with no jam, no intensity. It's tough to start the beginning of the game on a 5-on-3, and they score, and then they score another power-play goal. A little disheartening."

Zach Parise not only scored to open the second, but late in the first had slashed a stick right out of Jagr's hands, leaving the fourth finger on his left hand badly bruised -- and perhaps fractured. Pending X-rays, Jagr said he expects to be at Madison Square Garden today for a date with the Rangers.

Somehow, the Flyers will go there trying to build on some momentum they gained from this Devils game.

Already deep-sixed, they got on the board 3:59 into the third when Wayne Simmonds scored. Five minutes and change later, Jagr shoveled home a rebound of a Matt Carle shot to make it 6-2.

And despite Laviolette's questions about where the whistles went, a parade of penalties were called amid a rash of pushing and shoving, leaving the Flyers on the power play -- and leaving Jagr to set up a Claude Giroux goal at 12:40 to halve the lead.

All of 51 seconds later, Jakub Voracek scored, too, cutting the deficit to two, causing what remained of an afternoon sellout crowd to crow loudly, moving more than a few of them to perhaps drop to one knee in football prayer mode.

The Flyers wound up outshooting the Devils 24-1 in that final period. That broke a club record for shots differential in a period, and was one short of the mark for most shots in a period. And of course, it was all for naught.

"You always believe you can come back," Jagr said. "I felt like we stopped a little bit playing. After we scored the fourth one, you look at the time, we've got five minutes. But you're so close you don't want to take a bad risk."

So much for miracles. At least Laviolette's reaction to this first Flyers regulation loss since Jan. 19 was close to being on the mark.

Scripted prayers aside, this was the Devils, not only a hated rival but divisional-game opponent. There was nothing to be happy about.

"It's a loss. It's hard to feel better," Laviolette said. "To their credit, they went out and played really hard in the third period, tried to set it back straight. The ship went off course there for a couple of periods. You can't walk out of here and say you feel good."